Method and apparatus for making incandescent lamps and similar articles



Jan. 13, 1931. R. G. PHELPS 1,788,957

. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING INCANDESCENT LAMPS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Original Filed May 7. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet l I :9 x JNVENTUR:

205502 E. PHELPS,

.His Azrearwar- Jan. 13, 1931. R. s. PHELPS 1,788,957

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING INCANDESCENT LAMPS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Original Filed May 7. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN YENTUR 3Zas a aj:; G. RHELPs,

Jan. 13, 1931. R. a. PHELPS METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING INCANDEISCENT LAMPS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES 0rig1nal Flled May 7 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 1:735 .A'rzmazszzx.

ROSCOE G. PHELPS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO,.ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY:

Patented Jan. 13, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT? OFFICE a coaronarron or finw YORK METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING INCANDESCFNT rims AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Application'filed 7, 1927, Serial No. 189,514. Renewed April 29, 1929.

My invention relates to methods and apparatus for the production of electric in-' 'candescent lamps andother electrical devices comprising a filament, a bulb and a base, and, more partlcularly, devlces 1n wliichthe filament has a definite relation to the base. He'retofore itv has been the practice in the manufacture of certain types 16 is' a perspective view of the lamp stem ali ning jaws comprisedb of incandescent lamps to make an ad ustment of position of the base with reference to the filament or of the filament with reference to the bulb, optical means being employed in the adjusting operation. One of the features of the preferred form of my invention is that such means are rendered unnecessary. A. more important feature is that dependence is not made on a few adjustments but that the idea of definite relative positioning of the parts runs through the operations of mount making, sealing-in andbasing. The object of my invention is to produce economically lamps and similar devices of uniform and attractive appearance and with their filaments very accurately positioned with reference to their bases. Other features and advantages of I I my invention will appear from the following description of a s ecies thereof:

In the drawings, ig. 1 is ap'erspective view illustrating an apparatus for the mounting of the filament on the stem; Fig." 2. is a perspective of a sealing-in machine; Fig. 3 is a plan viewjand Fig. 4 is an elevation partially in section of a neck mouldmg device comprised by said machine; Fig.

5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the driving mechanism for said machine; Fig.

said machine an operating mechanism t erefor; Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section through one of the sealing heads; Fig. 8 is an elevation of a portion of the basing machine; Fig. 9 is a plan view of a bulb-holding cup comprised by said machine; and Figs. 10 and 11 are elevations at right angles to each other of a lamp involving a modification of my invention.

InFig. 1 is shown a mounting device which may be conveniently located adjacent to a sealing-in machine for the purpose of accurately attaching and aligning filaments upon lamp stems prior to sealing'the said stems into lamp bulbs. These lamp stems, -as.

shown, are preferably of the tipless type such as disclosed in Mitchell and White Patent device, I provide a clamp .18 which causes the exhaust tube to engage a groove in a bldck 18' aligned with the'ogening in mount pin' 17. The insertion of t e stem in the swivel arm may be made at any convenient position of the latter, but, for the mounting of the filament, the arm 15 is caused to rest upon a stop 19. A slidable cutting block 20 is properly positioned on the base 21 to receive the projecting ends of the filament supporting wires 12-13 in shallow grooves 22 formed therein. After the positioning, aknife 23 is actuated to trim oif ends projecting over the edge of the block 20, said knife being pivotally mounted at 24 and operated through a handle 25. The block 20 is then replaced by a pair of electrical conducting blocks 2627 insulated from each other and partially grooved to receive the ends of the filament supporting wires. Mounted adjacent to the blocks 2627 are a pair of electrical contact members 28-29 connected to a source of electrical energy. The terminal endsof a filament 30 are placed upon the ends of supporting wires 12-13 and the contact members brought into engagement with the contacting ends to fuse them together. The swivel arm 15 is then rotated to the vertical position against a stop 31 and by hand the filament is adjusted to the desired symmetry about the lower point of an aligning pin 32 which lies in the principal axis through the tubular member 17. The amount thus completed is a then transferred from themounting device 1 ports a mount pin 52.

to a machine for sealing it into a bulb.

A form of sealing-in machine is shown in Figs. 2 to 7 inclusive and comprises a rotating table or turret 32 upon which are mounted a number of heads 33 each of which is arranged to hold a mount and bulb in proper relation to each other during the operation of sealingin. The turret is carired by a central hollow shaft 34. which, as shown more particularly in Fig. 5, extends through a stationary table 35 of the machine, said table being in turn supported by a pedestal 36. By intermittently rotating the turret each of the heads is caused to stop for a definite time at each of various points or stations around the machine at which are located means having definite functions.

As shown in Fig. 5, the intermittent drive for the turret comprises a continuously rotating disc 37 mounted upon a counter shaft 38 driven from the main shaft 39 through a worm 40 and gear 41. Mounted upon the disc 37 is a grooved cam 42 which engages rollers 43, a number of such rollers being fastened to the underside of the turret. The shape of the cam 42 is such that when it en,- gages one of the rollers 43, the turret is moved from one station to another.

In loading the machine a completed lamp mount is placed upon each of the heads 33 as they arrive at the loading position indicated as A. in Fig. 2, a number of these heads being left out of the illustration for the purpose of clarity. These heads are non-rotatable and each comprises a means for supporting a bulb and a mount. The bulb supporting means comprises a partially closed ring 44 supported upon a pair of posts 45 extending from the turret 32, the inner surface of which has a plurality of protuberances 46 of suit-- able design upon which the bulb rests and which afiord considerable stability thereto. The means for supporting the mount comprises a mount column such as shown in Fig. 7, wherein a collar 47 controlled by a yoke 48 and guided by pins 49 carries a hollow sleeve 50 within which is snugly fitted another hollow sleeve 51 the upper end of which sup- 7 The sleeve 51 has two portions of difierent internal diameter connected by a sloping shoulder 53 fitted with the head 54 of a slotted tubular pin 55 the body portion of which fits within the smaller diameter portion-of the said sleeve. About the lower end of the pin 55 is placed a helical spring 56 in compression between the end of the sleeve 51 and a collar 57. In loading a mount upon one of the heads 33, its flare tube 10 is seated upon the mount pin 52 with the exhaust tube 11 extending into the slotted end of pin 55, the slot having been opened by the raising of the pin by means of a shoe 59.

Prior to placing a bulb over the mount it is desirable to definitely locate and position the plane of the filament. This is accomplished mechanically by an aligning mecha-- nism located at station B and shown more particularly in Figs. 2 and 6. As the turret pauses at station B, a suitably arranged pair a of jaWs 60-61 are caused to swing forward "62 at the end of lever 63 in passing from the high port on of "a cam 64 permits a spring 65 to pull lever 66 to the stop 67, causing the bracket 68 to swing in toward the center of the machine carrying with it the aligning jaws 60-61., lVhen'the cam roller 69 at the end of lever 70 is, acted upon by the high portion of the cam, the lever 71 is drawn away from its stop 72 and its fork end 73 acts upon a disc 74 so as to lift the yoke 75 against a compression spring 76 surrounding the rod 77. Upon the raising of the yoke a pair of links 78-79 carried thereby and attached at their opposite ends to the jaws 60-61 are forced outward causing the jaws to IIIOVB toward each other so as to contact with the sides of'the flattened glass portion.

of the stem 14. Further rotation of the cam 64 reverses the above described action so as to separate the jaws and move them away from the mount and out of the path oi travel of the turret. While the jaws are closed the shoe 59 is removed from the'lower end of the pin 55 and the helical spring 56 (Fig. 7) then forces the pin downwardly closing the slotted end of tube 55 on the exhaust tube 11 and rigidly supporting the mount.

The turret next moves to station C where an incandescent lamp bulb 80 is placed over the mount, said bulb being supported by the partially closed ring 44. The assembly comprising the mount and bulb is then earned through a number of stations where heat from a series of rotating burners 81 is applied to effect a fusion at the line of junction of the mount and bulb... As shown in Figs. 2 and v5, these fires are operated through a continuously rotating worm and gear drive 83 which imparts a uniformi speed to the intermittent gear 84 to which is rigidly attached the rollers 85-86 and cam 87. The rollers are centered at the pitch radius of gear 84. To an adjacent whole gear 88 is rigidly attached a segment cam 89 carrying rollers 90-91,

these rollers being centered at the pitch radius of gear 88. The gear 84 is sufiiciently larger and contains sufiiciently more teeth than gear 88, therefore the latter gear completes several revolutions while the gear 84 completes one revolution. .Just as the gear 5 91 while roller 86, by following the far-edge of segment cam 89 steadies the motion. Cam 87 imparts a steadily decreasing mot on to roller 91 and hence to the gear 88 until the motion approaches a pause. At this interval roller 85 is brought'into contact with the near edge of segment cam 89, and roller 86 is about'to cease following the far edge of segment cam 89, and roller 90 has been brought into contact with cam 87. Roller 85 now imparts increasing motion to segment cam 89 While roller 90 stead es the motion against cam 87. At the moment when-roller 85 has reached the low point of the near edge of the segment cam,the gear 88 is being driven at a speed which is the same as that which will be imparted to it when it is in mesh with gear 84; so that at this point meshing of the teeth of the two gears 84 and 88 occurs, following which the gear 88 is driven a desired number of revolutions at desired un1- formly highest speed before the interval of varying speed againis reached. Fig. 5 illustrates the conditions at a moment of approximate pause of rotation of gear 88. The motion imparted to gear. 88 is transmitted through a suitable train of gears 93, 94 and 95 to gear 95' which is one of aseries of similar gears intermeshing with each other so as to rotate the fire group to which each is attached.

At station D the surplus portion of the bulb neck is melted and blown off., It is requisite to direct air against the fused portion of the neck slightly below the'line of union between '40 the flare tube and the bulb. As shown in Fig.

4.": through a passage 97 formed in the outer sleeve 50. The mount pin 52 is provided with a flange 98 spaced from the top of the sleeve so as to furnish the proper directing means for the air blast. The air is directed into the st *passage 96 through a'pipe 99 carried by the collar 47 As the turret moves from station D toward station E the mount column is moved slightly downwardly by means of the collar 47 and yoke 48 to accomplish what is 1 5: known as pulling down the lamp seal.

At station E heat from the rotating burners sufficient to soften the glass is applied to a portion of the bulb adjacent to the lamp seal. The turret is moved to station F. At this station a lever arm 100 actuated by the lower .rim track of cam 101 causes a padded support 102 to rest, under tension of spring 103, upon the top of the bulb. And at the same "time a spring tensioned lever arm 104 actu- Cf ated by the upper and outer rim track 105 of cam 101 and functioning through links 106' and levers 107, brings about the closure of a pair of mold segments 108 and'109 which meet below and out of contact with the softenedglass of the lamp bulb (Fig. 4). The meeting of the mold segments causes the further action of the lever arm 104 to lift the closed mold segments vertically upwardly against the'resistance of compression spring 110 exerted through a. guided yoke member .111.- This vertical lift of the mold segments is adjusted suitably in relation to the upper (mount seating) end of the mount pin 52 (Figs. 7 and 4). At the moment when the mold segments reach the top of their lift, air pressure from the pipe 112 introduced .into the lamp through the pin 55, mount pin 52 and the exhaust tube 11 of the mount, is directed against the softened glass to expand it against the walls of the mold segments, and so to form a definitely shaped neck having a definite relation to the mount pin and hence to the lamp filament. The introduction of air pressure is signified by small a1,- rows within the lamp bulb in Fig. 4. When the air pressure is relieved, the mold segments are lowered away from the lamp and are restored to their open position. These mold segments should be of such form as to shape the neck of the bulb to receive and position the lamp base. \Vhere the'lamp base is provided with pins or other parts which must have a definite position with reference to the filament, the form of segments illustrated in Fig. 3 may be used. These comprise the V- shaped notches 113114 into which the softened glass is blown to produce a neck having the contour illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11 with protuberances adapted to engage slots in the base having a definite relation to said base- I pins. It may be desirable to alter the contour of the lamp bulb in a region more or less remote from t e lamp seal. In such case, when the lamp is moved to positions such as G and H, heat is applied to said region which, as shown, is at the top of the bowl portion of the lamp bulb through the stationary burn- 'ers 1 15-116 to-soften the glass. Thereafter,

as in position K, a mold member 117 is lowered, by means of a lever 118 and a step on the cam 101 and under tension of spring 119, to the lamp bulb. Air pressure is introduced to the lamp in the manner as previously described, which air pressure expands the softened glass against the walls of the mold.

member, producing a protuberance suitably shaped and arranged with relation to the mount pin 52 and hence with the lamp filament 30. The air pressure is then relieved and the mold raised from the lamp bulb.

ployment of mold member 117 is illustrated at 120, Fig. 2, a well-defined ridge contour symmetrically disposed in the principal axis of the mount column (heretofore described,

One shape which may be produced by em- Fig. 7) and parallel to or symmetrically disposed in a plane passing through the midpoint and terminals of the lamp filament 30 and the principal axis of the mount column.

In Figs. 8 and 9 is shown a type of basing head forming part of a machine such as disclosed in Fagan and Malloy application, Serial No. 116,442, filed June 16, 1926, Precision basing machine for incandescent lamps and similar articles. An incandescent lamp base 121 lined with cement is placed over the molded neck end of the accurately sealed lamp in proper relation for uniting, after which the bulbis placed-in the spring tensioned holder 122 carried on the end of spindle 123. The bulb is conveniently supported and positioned with respect to its base beciiuse the protuberance 120 rests in the slot 124 formed in the holder.122. The 'zpindle 123 is raised by the action of spring 125 until the pins 126127 of the base 121 engage a plate 128 adapted to locate the pins in their proper. plane with respect to that of the filament 30 and the protuberance 120 of he bulb; The plate 128 is provided with shoulders 129130 located in a plane at right angles, for instance with the slot 124, and, as the base is raised the operator may adjust it so as to cause its pins'to register with these shoulders. After adjustment a pair of jaws 131-132 are adapted to'close so as to hold the base firmly while the assembly is carried through a heating means so as to harden the cement carried by the base and cause the said base to be securely attached to the lamp.

For the form of lamp bulb illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11 having protuberances 133-134 molded adjacent .to the lamp seal and properly positioned with respect to the filament 30, it is necessar merely to place a base 135 over the bulb neck with its slots 136 properly positioned with respect to its base pins, engaging the said protuberances.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. The combination of means for su porting an assembly comprising a bulb and stem having a depending exhaust tube, means for fusing a portion of said bulb, shaping means adapted to engage said fused portion, and means for delivering air through said exhaust tube to expand said fused portion against said shaping means.

. 2. An apparatus of the class described comprising means for receiving and supporting a mount comprising a stem having a depending exhaust tube, means for supporting a bulb over said mount, means for fusing a portion of said bulb to said stem to form a seal, shaping means adapted to engage said fused portion, and means for delivering air through said exhaust tube to expand said fused portion against said shapingmeans.

3. The method of accurately positioning a filament of an electric incandescent lamp or similar device with reference to locating means carried by a base which includes 10- cating in a sealing apparatus a mount comprising a glass stem and a filament with the latter definitely disposed relatively to the axis of the stem andwith its plane having a definite relation to that of a flat portion of said stem and utilizing said fiat portion to locate said stem definitely with relation to the head of said sealing machine.

4. The method of making an electric lam comprising a light source definitely positioned with refrence to a base locating member which comprises mounting said light source on a stem to form a mount with 5. An apparatus of the class described comprising a holder for receiving a stem, a pair of jaws and actuating means therefor adapted to cause said jaws to engage a flat portion of said stem and locate it in a fixed plane, a bulb support adapted to position said bulb over said stem in substantially axial alignment therewith, means for fusing portions of the neck of said bulb and said stem together, a mold comprising two sections adapted when closed together to shape the said fused bulb neck portion symmetrically with reference to the axis of said stem and means for closing said mold sections.

6. An apparatus of the class described comprising a holder for receiving a stem, a pair of jaws and actuating means therefor adapted to cause said jaws to engage aflat portion of said stem and locate it in a fixed plane, a bulb support adapted to position said bulb over said stem in substantially axial alignment therewith, means for fusing portions of the neck of said bulb and said stem to-' gether, a mold comprising two sections adapted when closed together to shape the said fused bulb neck portion symmetrically with reference to the axis of said stem and to form thereon a projection and means for closing said mold sections.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 4th day of May, 1927.

ROSCOE G. PHELPS. 

